


Beyond a Lifetime

by siriogold



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Rumbelle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-06 11:05:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriogold/pseuds/siriogold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beyond a lifetime aka Rumbelle and the Greek Myths in which a sly god decides to give Orpheus and Eurydice’s Love a second chance. They’re reborn as Rumpelstilskin and Belle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prior Event

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll be a bit slow with the updates, I fear, but I plan to have a bit of fun with Rumpel and Belle along the journey. This first chapter is written in a sort of epic way to maintain the echo of the epic tales. With the second chapter I'll return in "normal language" mode.

Once upon a time, it was said that when Orpheus was singing, streams stopped running and the birds in the sky ceased every chirp, listening in awe.

There, Eurydice saw Orpheus, completely absorbed by his sweet music. There, she fell in love.

She was beautiful, the most beautiful among the nymph.  And when Orpheus saw her he too drowned completely into this love, breathing in it, living in it. His heart was full of thoughts of her.

 

But their story ended tragically.

 

Eurydice died, poisoned by a snake's bite and her soul crossed Hades's threshold.

Orpheus, destroyed by pain, sang and cried every tear of his heart.

 

Such a mess he was he that Hades's gods saw his pain and their hearts melted. They allowed him one time, one single time, to bring back to life his beloved.  But fear had its grip on Orpheus's heart, and on the way back in the Darkness he lost his love forever.

 

Thereby, Orpheus was left with an empty body and a neverending trobbing pain where once was his heart, until death claimed him too. A cruel death, but he did not feel pain.  He did not feel anything, for his body was already sarcophagus of his lost love.

 

A god amoung the Gods heard about this sweet, sad story and, intrigued, decided to climb down into Hades asking permission to take away the two souls lovers.

“What use are them for you?” asked the underworld's god.

 “Their love must not be quenched like a delicate flame,” came the answer.

 “Death ought not be cheated,”expressionless, Hades retorted.

“Their mortal remains are lost, but a new life I want to give. A second chance for their love.” Mellifluous, the foreign god was trying to corrupt Hades, the uncorruptible.

“They will remember nothing, once they fall back in mortality,” Hades, the adamant, said.

 “If theirs is true love, they’ll find each other.”   This stranger was good. Very good, and sly.

In fact, he saw a flicker of a hesitation and he knew he was riding the wind of victory.

“Be it. But the underworld’s law asks a soul for a soul and this law is above the king himself. What my world will have in exchange?”

The god smiled, ready to bid.

“If their encounter will be a propitious one, it’ll have their first born. If nothing will happen, they’ll die twice, and twice the time they’ll end up in the Darkness, cause they were dead and dead they’ll become. And nothing else your law would claim.”

 

On his way back, the sly god of the skies was smiling. In his hand he held the price of his offer: two little, tiny, seeds; pulsating as if they were eager to bod and grow and be together at last.

 

\------                --------             ----------

 

They came to life again in the ancient epic Greece, after river Lethe cancelled all of their memories.

Blind Chance, he born some years before her. He was already a man done when she came to the world.

His real name was nowhere to be known. Time set it for Rumpelstilskin because he was a tiny new-born and a tiny man would grow; and he had a strange melodic accent that nobody bear in his family. It was the inheritance of who he was in another life.

We know nothing of his childhood, except that he became limp after a boar-hunting.

 

She born between gold and silver. A patrician family was waiting with eager their first child, their heir. But when _she_ was, to her father’s eyes a disgrace entered the family because she was not a _he_ and her mother died giving birth. However, hate was banished from his heart as soon as he felt under his touch her tender and velvet skin. And as soon as her limpid sea water eyes felt upon him, he felt such a tender love that he would trade her for no one else.

So full of wonders were her eyes! His grief was brief with his toddler running around his legs, growing and blossoming like a delicate flower in beauty, cleverness and soft skills.

She was a tough one, her little girl, so eager to learn, so eager to bring love and comprehension to the ones around her, so fond of her lonely father! But when she knew she was right about something, she never gave up, at most she would scowl, pout or remain silent for the sake of his paternal love. But she never gave up!

Belle was her name, this child of destiny!

 

“Daughter of the gods” he usually called her, proudly, in front of their guests. She blushed and kind of hated her father because she didn’t like to be exalted unreasonably. She knew too well how such compliments would make jealousy run in the Goddesses’ veins and she surely didn’t want to start another war like Helena did.

But everyone seemed unaffected to such a worry and praised her lovelyness.

 

One day, a young man dared to ask for her hand. He was from a rich family. A family of warriors and conquerers. Times were getting hard, cause a new war shown itself on the orizon. She was just past her womanhood and the king’s council was eagerly looking for this time to come. They were hoping for an union of their city and this powerful family.

 

He was healty, strong and valorous in battle. But Belle’s father was not persuaded: he really was handsome and in the spring or his years and vigorous, but in his eyes there were nothing more that hollow pride. No tenderness was allowed there. No love.

And her daughter was a flower of incredible vitality and a pure spirit of joy. He blamed himself and his fatherly love for these thoughts. He simply didn’t have the strenght to let her leave the nest.

 

Until the inevitable knocked their doors. War!

The king had to ask for help and the price for it was already named.

“Belle, my beloved, to save the town and our people  we must… you must…” her father forlornly tried to say, but tears threatened to spill and he stopped.

“Father – she took his hands between hers, delicately- my sacrifice is the lesser of two evils, besides I’m going to be married eventually. Better to be with a purpose in mind, than nothing”. His brave, sweet, fearless daugher!

For some time, she knew about the council and her father’s worrying, but she would not allow that one person’s selfishness would cause distruction and pain toward her people. Even and above all her father’s.

 

She wasn’t excited to marry Menelaus, expecially not since he caught her reading and studying papers about habits and traditions of the enemy. She was trying to find some weakness or some bargain-escape for her town. But he laughed at her, ripping out the papers from her hands and scattering them all over the room. “What do you know about men’s business? You’re not quite a woman yourself! A woman ought to mind woman’s business and let the men rule over men’s matters!” So confident, so arrogant!

As he opened wide the back door entering without permission, so she let him go away: a completely loser in front of her heart.

But her people was still more important.

 

So the child of destiny started to ride her fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want leave a comment. It's always welcomed.


	2. Encounter

_TWO MONTHS LATER…_

 

Belle was struggling to manage through her master’s harassment. He was taking too much liberty with her for her liking; for her sake she would look for every chance to get away from his always sweating skin and too much lewd stare at her ass or bosom. It never fails to give her iced goosebumps and a settled anxiety in the pit of her stomach.

She was running some errands at the harbour when she saw a quite clear solution of her problem: a quest ship!

This kind of ship was meant for heroes to fulfill their quest; this kind of ship was always accepting young blood eager to quench their thirst for adventure.

 

She tried before, with other ships, but she despise **s** the military ones and the captain of the commercial ones would not allow a woman aboard. Their mind full of superstitions, they thought that women on a ship would bring upon them every kind of catastrophe.

 

But this time she has had a plan, this time she was plotting on fooling everyone becoming a young boy. And she was going to become a hero, to go through adventures she has only dreamed of, listening at the bards who quite often sang in the tavern where she worked.

 

It was quite simple really to be mistaken for a young guy. She was tiny for her age, his small bosom could be hidden by loosen clothes or a well done bandage under the tunic. She thought that with her blond and slighty curly hair cut to the shoulder, everybody would think of her as a young boy, barely in his puberty and escaping from an unloved family.

 

Mulling over that for a long hour, she managed to study the ship and every sailor in there. Among the others, she caught a glimpse of a limping one, wondering how he managed to end up in a quest ship; but his presence ended up being the main motive while walking to the tavern: if a lame could be a hero, why not she? Or a young little boy?

 

Yes, Belle decided, she would do it!

 

That night was quite horrible: her boss was drunk, not enough, though, to collapse over a table snoring soundly until morning. But enough to search for her in the kitchen, try his wicked way with her and end up being too slow in his movements, luckily for Belle. She smashed a heavy pan right in his face and she kicked him twice in the guts. “Just to be sure he won’t try anything” she kept telling herself, breathing hard, trying not to panic.

Not giving a second thought to her previous project, Belle brought a knife to her hair and, stilling her hand for shaking, cut her hair, give them to the fire.

She then rounded the motionless body on the ground, eyeing him sospiciously and searched for a sack. She packed some bread and cheese to eat in the morning and the money she extensively earned.

Then, she ended up searching for some boyish clothes to put on instead of the long girlish dress she was wearing.

Finally she managed to give another low kick to her very-soon-to-be-no-more-master on her way out, not suppressing a rather satisfied smirk at his painful grunt.

 

On her way to the harbour, Belle felt more free and alive since the day of her betrothal. Two months ago, things went down in an ugly and raw rollercoast of events that she didn’t still have the energy to analize.

She only knew that after what happened, going home was not the solution of her problems nor was asking for help revealing who she was to the town leader. They’d have surely taken her in custody and used her as a value hostage.

So when she ended up in this little sea city, she kept herself quiet.

Belle did had to eat, though.

So she endured working as a servant in a hideous hole of drunken sailors. She learnt fast: sly when it occurred to preserve her dignity and sweet when it came to poor little children who asked for a piece of bread.

His master’s wife was quite nice with her and treated her with some sort of maternal care. But this sense of belonging lasted only the first month. The Gods let the woman die from an unknown desease, leaving behind a distressed man who tried to drown his feelings into ambrosia and whores.

 When it was certain that he would happily drown his feelings in her too, Bell had tried to run away. Being raped certainly was not what she expected in her life. And she was extremely positive in preserving her maiden state for someone worth it. So Belle ended up looking for a way out.

Her stroll left her in front of the chosen ship. Belle glared hopefully inside but it was too late to ask for the captain. She would have to wait for the sun to rise.

So she settled down, hidden between two barrels either to spare herself the dampness coming from the sea and to avoid some akward and dangerous explanation to the nocturnal patrol. Covered in her cloak she waited, lighthearted.

She did wanted to see the world.

 

Luckily it wasn’t a chilly night, althought sleep eluded her.

Too much at stake, too many what ifs, too much in the darkness of her mind to deal with, Apollo came bringing a shiny smiling sun and Belle summoned all of her courage and climbed onto the ship.

“Hello? Anybody here?”

 

\-------------

 

That night was his duty, Rumpelstilkin’s, to guard the ship.

It was a boring task, knowing everybody was out seeking relief in the arms of some utterly _not_ respectable woman (or young boy) or in a pint of alchool, or losing their money gambling in some dark taverns.

Boring time tended to bring back unwelcome memories.

 

That night was as humid as a summer night could be. He was looking forward for a moonlight sea-bath, aiming to wash away his thoughts.

Instead, a little figure captured his attention. In the dim light of the moon, Rumpelstilskin could see that it was a young blonde girl. _No, boy_ he thought, looking carefully. The little brat hold in his hand a bag and stopped for a long time looking at the ship.

Rumpel was extremely aware that the brat could have been a little thief. Or that there could be more than one, hidden in the shadows. He concealed himself behind the bulkheads and paid attention to every single movement on the dock.

 

He had the time to observe carefully the lithe little person. Something was wrong on his behaviour and movement, but it eluded him what. It seemed as if he was unconfortable in his clothes, like they didn’t belong to him. But maybe he had fleas or worse, lice. But he would be itching and scratching his skin like there were no future. Instead he stayed there, still, looking unconfortable, uncertain of what to do. Then he shrugged his tiny shoulders, as if coming back from a dream.

Rumpelstilkin swore he saw a little smile on the wee boy’s lips while he gave his back to the ship and hid himself between some pretty big jars _. A_ _girlish smile_. Maybe he was thinking too much, maybe the moon was playing with his mind. Or maybe he had just witnessed some impertinent god playing jokes for his amusement.

 

 

 “Hello. Anybody here?” no doubt, Rumpelstilskin thought, these words was meant to have some security in them not the wave of uncertainty. But before his body could shake off the cloak, ease itself up and freak out the intruder, he heard a stumble and a little cry of surprise. _His_.

The first ray of light caught Rumpelstilskin trying to dodge a fallen body over his own. And failing miserably.

The wee boy of the night, stumbled unceremoniously on him.

“Dammed! You boy out of the way!” he shouted in pain, searching for his bad leg.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it’s still dark and I didn’t see the step coming and…” _no, not the tears!_ He growled to himself.

“You! You’re an annoying little brat!” Rumpel was trying to get rid of the inconvenience, freeing is lame leg, but the brat was not standing up, babbling about helping him, seeking for his arms, apologizing and doing the very best to keep straddling him all at once. And then patience run out. Swearing for the pain, he lifted the tiny figure in his arms aiming to throw it in the sea.

The wee boy was squirming, punching, screaming and being clearly, utterly, magnificently insupportable. Rumpel was screaming too, swearing to the gods about what sort of little tiger they loose free on the earth and why on seven skies _he_ was the one paying the ultimate price.

He stopped, though, at the edge of the banister, when sapphire eyes stared horrified at him and little arms clung to him painfully.

A not-quite-all-right feeling set in the depth of his being before a sudden hurting darkness took hold of him.

 

\-----------

 

A slow clap welcomed her.

“Impressive kiddo. You have a great right-handed blow. But why on Earth did you just knock out one of my man?” A short, large shouldered and bearded man approached her and he was smiling. To her dismay, he seemed utterly delighted. “To start a day with so much fun is a rarity.” Well, maybe, he really was delighted.

“I… I didn’t want to be trown overboard!” Belle put all of her indignation in the answer. She managed to stand up, wincing when she felt a soreness run up her right hand. Maybe struck the crippled one with her fist was not such a good idea.

Then she froze at the unexpected harsh turn of the conversation.

“Maybe he wouldn’t have if you didn’t sneak in at dawn” he retorted, grunting, this time staring back quite annoyed.

“I wasn’t…” she glanced at the body still unconscious, felt utterly proud and ridicously guilty of herself all at once. That resulted in a fiery blush. And a silent staring to her feet.

The man who was talking to her was quite obviously the ship’s capitain. And she couldn’t screw up her occasion to sail. Staying in the city would have been impossible and living in the streets was out of the question for a lonely girl. Even dressed like a boy.

The right thing to do then was apologize and hoping for the best.

“I’m sorry” she whispered.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him...” she went on.

“…it simply happened” she was almost done and she knew she was doing great. She kept telling herself to be quiet, look ashamed (she was, really!), feel regret (she wasn’t, simply impossible!), and then she crumpled down:

“…but I didn’t know he was such a pussy!”

At the same moment she said this, she knew, she knew!, that it was the wrong thing to say!

Her eyes stayed glued to the floor. She was waiting for the inevitable curse, slap, jump out the boat, whatever.

Instead a boasted laugher shook the large man. He approched her and ruffled her hair, almost affectionately.

“You are quite a job, kiddo!” and he bursted in another guffaw.

“So why are you here, kiddo?” He was still holding her head and he tilted it, looking straight in her eyes, scrutinizing them.

Internally she force herself to breath. One in, one out. But the voice came out hopelessly like a squeak “I, ehm, I, well… CanIBePartOfTheCrew?”

The capitain stared at her, considering the offer “Are you serious? Because things get really raw sometimes”.

“I’m used to rawness” she braved to answer, showing more confidence than she actually felt.

He frowned, sure he wasn’t buying any single word. But she stare back at him holding her ground. And that was it.

“uhmpf. You’re in.” She grinned. Eyes bright with excitement.

“But you must know, I don’t like little brats crying and I’ll spare you nothing. Everybody here must work on the clock, follow orders, don’t complain about food or whatever!” he tried hard to be threatening but she didn’t faltered the least.

“yes sir” she beamed at him.

“and what do I call you…” he enquired.

“Be… Bael, sir” luckily she had had all the night to figure out a name that she could considered as her own.

“Well Bael, the crew call me Grumpy, you too can call me so. Now, take care of your hand and then go, help that poor men to get on his feet again” he was gesturing toward her right hand and the one she knocked out. “We’ll leave with the next tide”.

 

Short moments later she was alone. She was happy, euphoric. Even the dull pain in her hand couldn’t quell the feeling of being finally free.

She settled her little sack out of the way and searched for cold water to mend her hand. She never punched someone and she didn’t know it could hurt so much. Belle examinated with care her hand, looking for some clue about broken bones. But apart for a quite gross bump who was starting to purple under her thumb nothing seemed wrong to her inspection. Maybe the doctor’s ship would see into it later.

 

She turned her attention to the man who was, in the meantime, whimpering in pain. He really was a pussy!, she couldn’t help to think.

Puffing, she leaned close to him, to see what was wrong. And when she saw all that blood she nearly fainted with worry. How was even possible that her punch could have caused so much damage?

Then she saw it: a long cut on the back of his head caused by a particularly sharp edge.

Her mind thought fast: she needed clean water and clothes, needle-and-thread. And a knife to cut off all that hair which were on the way.

Five minutes was all she took to gather these things. When the hair were out of the way, and all that blood rinsed she felt relieved: it was a long cut, but luckily not so much deep as she feared in the beginning. She proceeded to clean it again and to stitch up the wound with careful concentration. Then she bandaged his head with a clean strip ripped from the hem of one of her clothes.

Finally she ended up heavily seated with his head gently settled on her thigh.

Adrenaline subsided, she let out a muffled sob.

Belle was not a girl easy to tears but all the recent events, from the night before till then, pent up in her and simply asked to burst out and have relief.

But it was not the time.

Quite a crew was watching her for some time now, whispering and staring as if she was some sort of soprannatural element.

She didn’t notice them because she was too caught up with Rumpelstilskin’s injury. But the moment she did notice them, silence fell down.

Then a troll-like man stepped forward and asked “Who the fuck are you? And what did you fucking do to him?” he asked, finger pointed.

“He is our new ship’s boy!” Grumpy came out apparently from nowhere and approached the taller man. “Do you have a problem with that, Gaston?”

Even if Grumpy leave to him almost 25 inches, he was quite impressive when he wanted to. Gaston stared at him as if he was out of his mind, but in the end he backed away, murmuring something, not happy but neither war footing.

The others were more interested in keep watching the new young boy, who was really, really, handsome.

Sensing the uneasiness in the young boy, Grumpy shouted all of them to back off. Go, do their duty cause they were leaving soon.

“If you want to go back to your parents, you’re still free to go, you know” the capitain casually said while examining the bandage on Rumpelstilskin.

Then he gave him two soundly slaps on the face.

“I’ve parents no more” Belle lowered her gaze to avoid his stare.

“Mhm, you did a good job on him.” Rumpelstilskin was awakening, breathing profanities about the dull ache on his head.

His vision was clearing, and he found himself staring to those bright blue eye. Those wolderful eyes… of the boy who punch him hard and was the cause of all the actual pain!

He sit up quickly, trying to get as far away as possible from that nightmare.

“Hey buddy, slow down. You hurt yourself  pretty bad today” and who the fuck was this. Oh the capitain.

“Capitain I found this brat sneaking around and…”

“…and now he’s part of the crew” Grumpy finished for him.

“what? No way! Not possible! He’s a brat! A thief! He can’t stay” and why the hell he was so upset about this?

Before Grumpy could replay, Belle shouted back.

“Hey! Watch your mouth! You’re not calling me brat! I’m Bael and I’m definetely NOT a thief! I was meant to ask to join the ship when I climbed here and YOU tried to trown me out!” she was bright red with anger by the time she finished. Her fists closed to her sides ready to punch some sense into him again, if necessary. Despite the soreness of the right hand. But she still had a healthy left one, right?

Rumpelstilkin was horrified and quite terrorised at the thought of being hit again. Grumpy on the other hand bursted into a heartily laugh.

“You two! You two are getting along very well. Rum, you’re going to supervise and look after Bael. Whatever he needs, don’t know or ask for you’ll help him. And you” Grumpy said hammering his short finger on Belle’s chest “you’ll listen to him and follow his orders until you’ll know what are your duties and how not to be on everyone’s feet” he watched both with a critical eye “understood?”

“BUT” they stammered simultaneously.

“Inseparable. Understood?” there were no exceptions expected by that tone.

“Yes sir” Belle murmured unhappy.

“Will do” Rumpel conterparted, almost pouting.

They exchanged a sideways glare.

It was going to be a _long_ day.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you want leave a comment. It's always welcomed.


End file.
